We did it! Last night was our first all ages show. Photos are up of Rebelution and Iration. Everything went according to plan, and it was a great turnout, especially for a Sunday. Roughly 30% of the crowd was under 21.

That means that if this had been a 21+ show, we would have gotten half of the audience or less. You don't just lose the people who are under 21, you also lose their over-21 friends, since college kids travel in packs.

The most notable difference, though, was how enthusiastic the crowd was. You just don't see the same level of energy at 21+ shows. These people were glad to be seeing the show instead of just standing around looking jaded. It was great to see that here!

I've also never had so many people stop me and ask me to take their pictures while I was shooting the bands. That almost never happens, and it happened a lot last night.

I had been hoping to get a picture of our first-ever under-21 customers, and give them DNA t-shirts or something, but the line was long and things were pretty chaotic, so that didn't happen. Oh well.

Now I realize that "Pop Roxx" wasn't exactly the most creative name for a club night, but this is getting ridiculous. Apparently Toronto is now the Fresno of the North.

For what it's worth, which is "not much", it's pretty clear that both of these are a case of them half-assedly cutting-and-pasting our flyer, rather than just coincidentally ripping off the same source that we did. And not even bothering to spend the thirty bucks to get the right font.

Hubba Hubba Revue (which, incidentally, is happening this Friday and which I strongly advise you to attend) have decided to ban pro-sized camera rigs. This sucks, but I completely understand, sympathize with, and support their decision.

We understand that not every photographer is responsible for every issue, but we have had complaints and problems at literally every show we've ever done, and no matter what we say or do, this continues to be the case. These complaints have come from performers, audience members and even the venues themselves, and frankly we can no longer afford the time and effort to manage this apparently inevitable situation.

Even when we have spoken directly to these issues, our requests for good conduct have regularly been ignored, and photographers have continued to make the show experience a negative one for the audience and the cast. On more than one occasion we've even had to throw photographers out of the dressing room -- even after they'd been told directly that they were not allowed in that area.

Lastly, despite literally thousands of photos snapped at every show we've ever done; despite telling photographers that they were allowed to shoot at our events only so long as we were given copies of their material, we've maybe received, at most, a couple of dozen photos -- total -- over the past 2 years. Clearly the only thing we are getting from this relationship is grief.

As you may have noticed, I take a lot of photos here. Frankly, I'd rather not: I enjoy photography, but most of the time, I'd rather be actually watching the show. But I try to shoot as many events as possible anyway, because having photos on the web site is good promotion for the club, so I kind of consider it my job.

And I know from direct personal experience that if the show isn't being shot by me or by one of two or three other photographers I know personally, the chance that I will ever see those photos is slim to none.

It's so sad to be shooting a show and look to the left and right and see that the entire front row is taken up by late-40s obese men with Grizzly Adams beards and $4,000 worth of camera equipment. Aside from the visceral reaction to this ("What am I doing here! I don't want this to be my peer group!") I also feel bad for everyone else in the audience who paid to actually see the show and are having their view blocked by these boobs. When shooting I always try to move around a lot, both for variety in the shots, and so that I'm not blocking anyone for very long. Most photographers don't have any such consideration.

And, as noted, these guys with their expensive gear not only never send us the photos, but they never even post the photos to Flickr or anywhere googlable. We never see the photos, even when I've personally asked them, and given them my card. That trick hasn't worked even once.

This doesn't happen for rock shows, of course: the dirty santas only come out when there are pretty girls on stage. Draw your own conclusions.

It's also worth noting that Bohemian Carnival suffered the exact same problems that Hubba Hubba has, and reached the same decision years ago.

I found it entertaining that one of the vendors there was only selling a table-full of pasties. I guess that tells you that it's something of an insider crowd... How is it that the pirate store describes themselves? "Purveyors to the Industry", or something like that?

Also: R. Black has outdone himself this time, with his triptych of flyers for the upcoming Goth Week. Collect all three!